NEW YORK: An American judge and a former court worker were charged on Thursday for allegedly helping a man escape US immigration police, the Department of Justice said.
Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph and Wesley MacGregor were indicted on one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and two counts of "obstruction of justice -- aiding and abetting" in the case, the department said in a statement.
MacGregor was also charged with perjury for allegedly lying to a federal grand jury about the incident.
"The allegations in today's indictment involve obstruction by a sitting judge, that is intentional interference with the enforcement of federal law, and that is a crime," US Attorney Andrew Lelling said in the statement.
"We cannot pick and choose the federal laws we follow, or use our personal views to justify violating the law," Lelling said.
The charges stem from a 2018 incident in which an "alien defendant" was arrested and charged with being a fugitive from justice and narcotics possession, and was to appear before Joseph, according to the Justice Department.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had flagged the defendant's case, noting that he had twice been deported from the country and was barred from returning until 2027.
ICE issued a warrant for the man's removal from the US and dispatched a plainclothes officer to Joseph's court to detain him when he appeared there -- something that has become common since US President Donald Trump took office.
A court clerk -- allegedly at Joseph's instruction -- told the ICE officer to wait in the lobby, indicating that was where the defendant would go should he be released.
Instead, MacGregor allegedly escorted him downstairs and "used his security access card to open the rear sally-port exit and release the defendant."
Trump has staked his presidency on his insistence that the US is being overrun by migrants and a promise to build a wall along the border with Mexico.
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